- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.101.1-5.101.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Due to a rapidly spreading fire, Sardis was not plundered; the cornered Lydians and Persians gathered to defend themselves, prompting the frightened Ionians to retreat and return to their ships.
τὸ δὲ μὴ λεηλατῆσαι ἑλόντας σφέας τὴν πόλιν ἔσχε τόδε.1 ἦσαν ἐν τῇσι Σάρδισι οἰκίαι αἱ μὲν πλεῦνες καλάμιναι, ὅσαι δʼ αὐτέων καὶ πλίνθιναι ἦσαν, καλάμου εἶχον τὰς ὀροφάς· τουτέων δὴ μίαν τῶν τις στρατιωτέων ὡς ἐνέπρησε, αὐτίκα ἀπʼ οἰκίης ἐπʼ οἰκίην ἰὸν τὸ πῦρ ἐπενέμετο τὸ ἄστυ πᾶν.
The following prevented them from plundering the city after capturing it. In Sardis, most of the houses were made of reeds, and even those of them that were made of brick had roofs of reed. When one of the soldiers set fire to one of these, the fire, immediately spreading from house to house, overran the whole town.
καιομένου δὲ τοῦ ἄστεος οἱ Λυδοί τε καὶ ὅσοι Περσέων ἐνῆσαν ἐν τῇ πόλι, ἀπολαμφθέντες πάντοθεν ὥστε τὰ περιέσχατα νεμομένου τοῦ πυρός,2 καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἐξήλυσιν ἐκ τοῦ ἄστεος, συνέρρεον ἔς τε τὴν ἀγορὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Πακτωλὸν ποταμόν, ὅς σφι ψῆγμα χρυσοῦ καταφορέων ἐκ τοῦ Τμώλου διὰ μέσης τῆς ἀγορῆς ῥέει καὶ ἔπειτα ἐς τὸν Ἕρμον ποταμὸν ἐκδιδοῖ, ὁ δὲ ἐς θάλασσαν· ἐπὶ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν Πακτωλὸν καὶ ἐς τὴν ἀγορὴν ἀθροιζόμενοι οἵ τε Λυδοὶ καὶ οἱ Πέρσαι ἠναγκάζοντο ἀμύνεσθαι.
While the town was burning, the Lydians and all the Persians who were in the city, being cut off on every side as the fire was spreading through the outermost parts, and having no way out of the town, flocked together into the marketplace and to the river Pactolus, which flows through the middle of the marketplace carrying down gold dust for them from Mount Tmolus, and then empties into the river Hermus, and that in turn into the sea. Gathering by this Pactolus and in the marketplace, the Lydians and the Persians were forced to defend themselves.
οἱ δὲ Ἴωνες ὁρέοντες τοὺς μὲν ἀμυνομένους τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς δὲ3 σὺν πλήθεϊ πολλῷ προσφερομένους, ἐξανεχώρησαν δείσαντες πρὸς τὸ ὄρος τὸν Τμῶλον καλεόμενον, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ὑπὸ νύκτα ἀπαλλάσσοντο ἐπὶ τὰς νέας.
The Ionians, seeing some of the enemy defending themselves and others coming against them in great numbers, withdrew in fear to the mountain called Tmolus, and from there, under cover of night, departed to their ships.
- 5.101.1τὸ δὲ μὴ λεηλατῆσαι ἑλόντας σφέας τὴν πόλιν ἔσχε τόδε
The demonstrative pronoun τόδε is the subject, and the verb ἔσχε is used in the sense of "to prevent" or "to hold back." The articular infinitive phrase τὸ μὴ λεηλατῆσαι functions as the direct object, with σφέας (accusative) as its subject and ἑλόντας as an agreeing participle. Literally, "But the following prevented them, having captured the city, from plundering it."
- 5.101.2ὥστε τὰ περιέσχατα νεμομένου τοῦ πυρός
An irregular construction where the conjunction ὥστε is followed by a genitive absolute (νεμομένου τοῦ πυρός). Rather than indicating a simple result, it functions as a causal explanation ("inasmuch as," "since"), describing the circumstance that cut them off.
- 5.101.3τοὺς μὲν ... τοὺς δὲ
Substantive participles in the accusative depending on the partitive genitive τῶν πολεμίων. The phrase distinguishes one group of the enemy (τοὺς μὲν ἀμυνομένους, "those defending themselves") from another (τοὺς δὲ ... προσφερομένους, "others advancing"), describing the two different movements of the enemy witnessed by the Ionians.